10:33 AM

[Weapon]

Ornate Jikdo [D]

A red tassel hangs from the hilt, and shines beautifully once struck with moonlight. A straight sword with Korean roots, perfect for the average swordsman in both reliability and aesthetic.

Murim Boost

Whenever using an offensive Murim skill, increase its effect by 5%.

Keen, the swordsman who was apart of Team Uprise, took a stance similar to the chudan-no-kamae posture, literally translated to the “middle-level posture”. This provided a balance between offensive and defensive measures. He had experience in kendo, or at least some form of kenjutsu.

Leona herself had a decade-and-a-half worth of training, both with her parents' guidance her own self-taught lessons, in swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat. She wasn't formally trained in any established arts but both halves of Hwaseong Heavens were S-Ranks—that was their qualification.

She could use that esoteric knowledge to her advantage. The Hwaseong Heavens Artes desired efficient combat at the hands of an army-strong warrior. One that could cleave mountains just as easily as a thousand soldiers. Similar to Alexander in a way, where he preferred quick, oftentimes brutal, moves to end the fight quickly. She had seen him spar before.

Regardless, she shook her head, knowing she had a spar of her own. She revealed her [Ornate Jikdo]. In response to his chudan-no-kamae posture, she took the waki-gamae, hiding the length of her weapon using her body, just to be cheeky. It was doubtful that he knew the length of a jikdo, thus prompting him to take more caution. The first exchange, she suspected, it’ll be the only “realistic” part. The rest will be rainbows and flying pigs.

The thought made her chuckle.

“I thought we were having a serious exhibition,” asked Keen, who began pacing in the space that allowed, in Field Beta. It was a testing area for the Supportive Program, now converted to general area, lined with tables of supplies and open spaces for all people, not just including juniors. Field Alpha, on the other hand, had been converted to a infirmary recently.

Leona reciprocated, both fighters gently carving a circle with their feet. “I was thinking about something silly. Promise to go easy on me, C-Rank?”

“I’m not a bully,” he assured. Keen was at a middle-C; given that Leona was only at E, if they fought without restrictions, it was probable that he’d absolutely demolish her due to overwhelming stats.

“He’s a nice guy!” exclaimed Alexander from the sidelines. “That means he’s easy! Kick his ass, Leo! Cut him open like a pinata!”

Keen went silent.

“You could ask Keen if you want to fight me instead, Alex!” she replied with her back turned to him. “All you need to do is ask!”

Alexander laughed as a response. That man was exhausting sometimes. But it was nice to hear him cracking jokes in the midst of things. His sense of humor was unkillable. This was a spar though, a serious one, and she needed to concentrate again. She went through her breathing ritual and placed her mind in steel.

She kept her eyes on Keen’s katana; that was his body, nothing else mattered other than the way of the sword. Just a few steps away. A little nibble forward and he could lunge. She had to be smart about her introduction. A lackluster one made for a poor impression.

So she maintained her circular pacing, putting Keen on edge like a scratching record, and when it was time to lift the needle, Leona lurched.

[Skill Activation: Incomplete Fleeting Blade]

A sharp trail swept from behind her body, flung outwards and into Keen’s side, and swiftly a clang rang, the sound of blade-kiss. A soft swear came from him, one of shock—he hadn’t been expecting an attack that fast she reckoned.

He spun his katana around, up and over, to strike her shoulder. Another blade-kiss hissed, the edges biting together, and she stepped in, slid free, and got his arm with a warm lovetap. Leona smirked and backed away, and danced side-to-side to show her friendliness. “One-zero.”

“Surprised me there,” Keen said, putting his blade high, above his head, in jodan. “Won’t surprise me for the second time though.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” she replied, but she said it for herself. The element of surprise was gone, and Keen had a better understanding of her capabilities and her sword. Despite her warning, he had a grin.

Once she raised her sword mid-level, Keen vanished like he became air itself and reappeared, to her left peripheral, aiming to take a chunk out of her side (if it had been a real duel). Leona fluttered her blade to block, then Keen disappeared again, and something struck her back, on the right.

“One-one,” Keen counted, twirling around to her front, doing the same dance as she did earlier. “[Phantom Feint], what you saw was a phantom imitating what I could’ve done. Skills are amazing, aren’t they?”

“Mhm.” Leona pretended to be spiteful and pouty, but it was clear she was joking again. [Phantom Feint] was an amazing skill when it came to confrontations like these: if used correctly, it guaranteed a hit. That could be instrumental given the circumstances. “What other skills do you have? I’m curious.”

“Well, I’ve been working on this. Stand back a little,” said Keen. Leona did and he flourished his katana, spun it around his wrist a few times as if to warm up. Then, he lowered himself, brought his weight down, and hung his single-edge behind.

And in a single, smooth motion, he whipped it across.

[Skill Activation: Tri-Slash]

Leona heard cleaved air, then saw a thin white line cutting across. Just a moment later, two identical lines were drawn, tilted slightly, no more than fifteen degrees than the original, and the same sound doubled upon itself. It was an impressive technique. The delay was intentional, she thought. While you could defend from the first strike, you needed premonition to defend against the next two, which struck simultaneously. Though, assuming you didn’t use a skill yourself.

She hummed, pleasantly surprised. “It’s wonderful. I can already imagine the applications for it; I’m assuming you’re training for a faster execution? To use it, I mean. Not actually killing someone.”

Keen nodded, flipping his sword again. “Mhm. It requires a lot of finesse that you don’t see. Whenever I do mess it up, either the attacks are too delayed, or too awkwardly angled, or it wouldn’t work at all, it’s a lot of small and very tedious problems.”

“I see.” An idea came to mind. “Would you mind doing it again? I want to try to counter it.”

“...You want to try to counter it?” He sounded unsure at the idea; she didn’t hold it against him. After all, it was difficult to trust a fellow swordsman who had just became a Pseudo-Slayer yesterday.

“Trust me,” she assured with a smile, raising her jikdo. “I have my own technique.”

Keen had the blankest face possible, convinced not in the slightest. But just to get another opinion, he looked behind Leona.

“If she gets hurt, it’s her fault,” Alexander said. “But I’m also going to kill you so keep that in mind.”

“Kick his ass, Leo,” followed Althea. These two. They were her biggest fans, but sometimes they were more of a burden than a reassurance. She loved them anyway.

Keen uneasily sighed, uncertain still, hovering between cowardice or death. A moment after, he sighed, nodding. “Alright. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I was raised by the greatest sword-fighters on Earth. I might know what I’m doing.” Leona stood tall, back straight, her body parallel to her polished blade. “To preface: what you’ll see is a lackluster performance of their masterpiece. I’m nowhere near the skill to perform the one technique I know to the highest degree, especially when I haven’t even began tempering my body. But with what I have now, I believe it’ll be just good enough.”

“If you say it is.” He went into the same stance, down and low. His fingers tapped the wrapping of the hilt, and he bit his lips. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll activate it.”

Then, is this enough of a signal for you? The temperature rose in Field Beta. Not a burning rise but a warm one. It was a warmth that was to be controlled, to be held, like a tangible ambition. And it manifested beautifully within the steel of her [Ornate Jikdo], its white color turning red, redder, until crimson like molten metal, but it did not bend or melt or contort. Rather, it stayed, like all ambitions did at the hands of a diligent warrior: controlled, yet festering, ready to combust into a beautiful bonfire. Her skin formed beads of sweat, and her amber eyes darkened with a tempting crimson so had the ends of her locks.

My parents connected their lives in Hwaseong-si; ‘Hwaseong’ itself can be read as ‘Star of Fire’, but you know it as ‘Mars’. I think this needs no further explanation.

Fireworks crackled in her ears.

[Skill Activation: Tri-Slash]

Swordfall.

[Skill Activation: Hwaseong First Arte - Red Banner]

No matter the delay on [Tri-Slash], the [Red Banner] carved a gaping, crackling gash, several times bigger than that little white line. It shattered all three strikes, and it sounded not like sword-kiss. It didn’t sound like a sword at all. It was the singular bang of a hammer on war-drums, a small explosion, yet an explosion that very well declared her intentions. Of war, of reassurance.

The chatter of Field Beta were silenced, and Leona delicately tucked her sword away, performing a slight bow. The temperature eased, and Leona felt her appearance returning to normal. “It looks like I was right. Even at mid-E, I’m able to cut down your technique with mine.”

Keen blew air out of his mouth and shrugged. “Well, maybe I held back but to think you’d be able to cut through my flimsy technique… How many techniques did your parents make?”

“Nine, without including derivatives,” Leona answered; she knew each one. Her parents had recorded videos of them performing all techniques and derivatives. Currently, the second and third arte were considered incomplete by the System while the rest were inaccessible, too difficult to perform correctly.

“Looks like I need more training…” he muttered. “But uhm, I’m glad we both got something out of this. And you didn’t get hurt, and your boyfriend won’t kill me.”

Alexander cut in, “Don’t get too presumptuous—”

“Be quiet, Alex.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Anyway, thank you.” Leona bowed, giving Keen her respects for accepting this little exhibition, returning afterwards to the two Shens, who watched with great amazement. “How was it? I’ve never gotten a chance to showcase one of my parents’ artes properly. Well, I have videos of them performing it, but—”

“You were gorgeous, Leo,” Althea told her. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t think your appearance would change though. I mean either way, I’m jealous. You’re clearly the strongest out of all of us. This guy”—she elbowed her brother—”would agree.”

Alexander returned the elbow. “Mhm. There's a reason why I'm terrified of you."

“Aren’t you two sweethearts?” Leona teased them, and they didn’t have anything snarky to say. “It’ll take me years before I’m able to perform all nine artes proficiently. That is, if I decide to become a Slayer after today.”

“Otherwise, we’ll go back to being a normal, regular people who live normal, regular lives,” Althea replied.

Neither Alexander or Leona responded. Leona thought Alexander would agree, and judging by his expression, he thought she would agree. They both thought the same thing and they both wondered about why they didn’t say anything to correct Althea.

Althea chimed, “Why are you two looking at each other like that? I get we’re the furthest thing from normal—‘specially since this one looks like a second-rate actor—but you don’t hafta rub it in.”

“It’s nothing,” Alexander said. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll go back to watching K-dramas soon. For now, we need to focus on Pereyra—“

“Deon!” shouted someone, Victor, judging by his voice. “Deon!”

Deon Griffiths, the Vice Class Leader of A2, stormed out from behind a partition, with Victor following behind. He was a little bit more of an acquaintance with Leona and Alexander; though he made it tough to connect with. Everyone knew him as a loner who despised most forms of social interaction. It seemed the mission with the Tormented Flesh hadn’t changed him much for the better. Or having Professor Ichiken give him a tongue-lashing. That asshat.

Victor clamored after him, shouting his name to no avail. Whatever he had to say, Deon refused to listen, his footsteps rattling the lights, and left, walked straight through the open doors without a second thought.

“Fine!” exclaimed Victor, throwing his arms up. “Be like that, asshole! Fuck me for even trying to reach out in the first place!” He sat down, steaming there until a few of his friends came and consoled him.

“I feel bad for Deon, but he makes it hard to sympathize with him,” Leona said, mainly to Alexander really.

“Mhm. Can’t imagine how his thoughts are,” he replied.

“He feels the most guilt out of all of us,” joined a new voice, someone that both Leona and Alexander were familiar with: Li Chunhua, the Class Representative of A1, and a cultivator who specialized in hand-to-hand combat and spear techniques. Leona thought she was one of the most beautiful girls in the entire university (Kaiya especially thought so, to Chunhua’s embarrassment). “You are right though, Leona. He makes it incredibly difficult.”

“Chunhua…” murmured Leona.

“If you don’t know already, during the initial attack, Deon was volunteering at the hospital. Due to the lack of a fighting force and the abundance of, well, civilians…” Chunhua didn’t finish her sentence. “…He did his best to protect everyone, he really did. But it was impossible to come out without casualties.”

“And when he came back, he lost his own friends,” Alexander said. “If he was on campus, he could’ve saved them. If he did better, he could’ve protected everyone in the hospital. You have to feel bad for him, but he makes it easy to hate him.”

“What about you, Chunhua?” Leona asked. “Are you alright?”

Chunhua laughed to herself, shrugging. “I do not know, frankly. I was with my classmates training outside when the attack occurred. It…” She frowned. “...It was a difficult time, and I am having trouble coping with it. Now, especially. But that is neither here nor there, I apologize for complaining.”

“Don’t be,” reassured Leona. “You did great, I know it.”

“Thank you for saying that, Leona. And uhm…” Chunhua looked at Althea. “You must be Althea Shen, correct?”

Althea glanced between Leona and Alexander. “That’s me. Is something wrong?”

“No no, nothing’s wrong. I wanted to thank you for being here when it’s so dangerous. Kaiya doesn’t regret getting, and I quote, ‘brain damage for you and Masaru’. It made me worried half-to-death though. That woman is exhausting.”

Alexander said, “Make sure to give her my thanks as well. For saving my dumbass of a sister—”

“Shut up.” Althea playfully punched his shoulder, but as expected, it didn’t do much to hurt him. “Ugh, anyway, I guess you must be nervous about Scorcher, huh?”

“Yes, of course.” Chunhua gestures around Field Beta. The people here were doing whatever they could to pass time, and considering the professors were occupied with their own tasks, it left the Combatives twiddling their thumbs at the face of death.

Alexander frowned, rubbing his lips. “Do you think Deon will be alright? If, ahem, when everything kicks off, he needs to be in the right headspace. Otherwise, he’ll put himself and others in danger.”

“I would love to answer, but I don’t have a good one,” she said. “We simply have to hope that someone gets to him.”

***

The [Hwaseong Heavens Nine Artes] were the shining jewel of her mother’s and father’s legacy, and she was its inheritor. Though, it’d be difficult for her to do it justice. After emerging as a Pseudo-Slayer, her body was artificially enhanced to perform these martial techniques from the get-go, as seen with [Red Banner].

It was strange having a new organ, the Krait, bubbling inside her chest but it had allowed miracles; however, it proved to demoralize her as well. Whenever she performed [Red Banner], it was a disgraceful imitation compared to her parents’ work. There were countless areas to improve on: cycling, the actual swordsmanship itself, manifestation...

But she was willing to try and cultivate herself to a higher form, or whatever. She expected little success, especially before the operation against Pereyra, yet this did not deter her. Leona had found herself a quiet place and sat, and activated [Divine War Saintess Heavenly Body], a cycling technique invented by her mother.

Since the Slayer Emergence, the cultivation magick system was one of the most prominent systems in the entire world, and nearly all high-ranking Slayers had used a technique originating from it. For a good reason: these cycling techniques. While the various martial arts had attracted many Slayers, it was ultimately the cultivation techniques that proved to be instrumental, needed, for future growth. It wasn't difficult to grow between Rank F to D, but difficult to grow between C to B, and became extremely challenging beginning at A.

Using cultivation techniques, you could collapse barriers within your body, allowing for an easier progression. Such as clearing your meridians (mana conduits, bio-catalysts, there were different terms everywhere), altering your Krait, altering various body parts and organs, and so on. Many scientists argued that these techniques ought to be categorized as "mutational magic" and they were not incorrect. These did alter your body, permanently.

Not to mention qi (mana) refinement, where you could alter the properties of the qi (mana) inside you. For example, allowing it to gain a natural ice property so you could boost your ice magic.

While these techniques aided high-rankers, innovations were made everyday. In the past couple of decades, there were cases where some techniques were able to boost one's Growth Potential and allow them to rank higher than they initially stood. Researchers predicted that this would grow in number, where the average Slayer Rank would be pushed to High-C perhaps, maybe Low-B.

Okay... Leona took in a deep breath, readying the [Divine War Saintess Heavenly Body], which would begin to refine her mana.

All she needed to do was breath, absorb the qi in the air, and allow it to flow throughout her channels in the appropriate sequence, and most of all: focus.

Thus, Leona mediated, and with the aid of the Slayer System, she took a deep breath—

“—Hak!” And she immediately coughed, feeling fire in her throat. Leona hunched over hacking several times, pounding her chest, until the awful sensation subsided. Why did it immediately fail?!

[SLAYER SYSTEM ALERT]

Divine War Saintess Heavenly Body has failed.

Leona frowned and punched the screen, but her fist went through.

“Are you having trouble?” asked a familiar voice. It was Chunhua again.

“Unfortunately…” Leona cleared her throat. There were little embers inside still. Nothing too dramatic though. “Are you spying on me, Chunhua?”

“What were you trying to do?” she shot a question back with no hint of malice in her voice, only gentle concern and curiosity.

“A cycling technique to refine my qi. Or mana, whatever you refer to it.” Since there were a myriad of different magick systems, they had their own special names for magical energy: psionic energy, mana, qi, willpower, faith, et cetera. Different shades of the same color. “The [Divine War Saintess Heavenly Body] is supposed to help match the qi with the chaotic tempo of its accompanying techniques. However, from the moment I tried doing that… Well, you saw what happened.”

“There is not a high amount of qi in the air,” Chunhua stated, raising a finger as if to demonstrate. “Though while I can see that it is possible, it’d take an advanced breathing technique to both draw the qi and purify it. After all, it is very impure. Well, ‘impure’ is not the right word. ‘Cursed’, that is more apt.”

Leona knew that. Due to the inherent absence of natural magic in this world, cultivators often built their own chambers: places with a high abundance of mana, or go to another world and perform their techniques there. This applied to practitioners of other systems, whatever that may be. It seemed Leona overestimated her own abilities.

Maybe she should’ve brought one of those pills. Either way, she’ll continue to train with her mother’s skill. Once at a basic level, it will provide a passive enhancement: her techniques and magick will experience an increased effect. Whatever that effect may be, she also didn’t know that.

She hung her head low. “Goodness, I understand so much more about a Slayer’s progression, haha…”

Almost all Slayers aimed for toolbox skills, which was a single skill that housed multiple inside. For example, if Leona had all nine [Hwaseong Heaven Artes] done at a basic level, then it’d turn into a single skill. In Chunhua’s case, she had [Mastery of the Forest], which contained all of her mastered techniques.

It was most useful for Slayers like them anyhow, who relied on many techniques.

“It is most difficult, yes,” Chunhua said with a comforting smile. “I had trained for hundreds of hours, perhaps thousands, to arrive where I am at, and still, I am nowhere close to the peak. In fact, looking back on my journey now, I have moved only a few steps, and during those motions I had imagined myself moving for leagues.”

“Don’t discount your effort so far. You’ve done amazing at your age. I wish I had a fraction of your strength.”

“You are too kind, Leona. Always. Often, I wonder what it’d be like if you had become a Slayer and entered the Combative Program. I’m certain you would become the best in your class.”

“Maybe.” Leona sighed, tapping the ground. “Maybe. I enjoy the feeling of power, not to sound like a supervillain or anything. Really, it’s the feel of the blade in my hands, as if I’m directly controlling my own destiny. It’s a corny thing to say, but it’s true. Everyday, despite not being a Slayer, I train.”

“To protect yourself?” asked Chunhua. “Or, and forgive me if I step too far, but fantasize? About this life.”

Fantasize… She chuckled, knowing that her friend had seen right through her. “Yes. If I had the choice, I would’ve joined you. Or be your senior, really.”

“I see…”

“Mhm. But I’m fulfilling my parents’ last wish. After all, they decided to bring me into this world. That is the greatest choice they could make.”

Although her and Alexander shared the same future, that of a normal civilian life, he was the only one who desired it. Not her.